


Sacrifice

by GingerBreton



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Regret, Self-Sacrifice, The Blight (Dragon Age), Tumblr Prompt, Ultimate Sacrifice, soon to be king alistair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 13:26:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17898962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerBreton/pseuds/GingerBreton
Summary: This one shot was inspired by a tumblr prompt:  'I found you far too late'.A warden has to make the ultimate sacrifice* to end the Blight.  Written from Alistair's pov.*If you haven't played through Origins to the end, then here be spoilers!





	Sacrifice

_“I was recruited for a reason, and I never understood that until now.”_

Alistair pushed on through the fatigue. He was battle-weary and bloodied, his armour dragged at his limbs like lead weights, and though the blood pounding in his head made him dizzy, he still he ran on. His footfalls echoed through the halls of Fort Drakon, passing swathes of carnage left behind by her party. With every step he took and every corner he turned, he feared finding familiar bodies. 

_“There’s a whole country relying on you, for you to show them what a great man you are, and that’s why you can’t come with us.”_

It had felt like the world would come to an end at any moment, the clouds swirled ever faster around Dragon’s Peak, their focus, the tower that loomed over Fort Drakon. The deafening roars from the archdemon had cowed even the bravest of soldiers, that was until it had crashed atop the fortress. All the while the darkspawn had crashed upon them in an unstoppable tide. He had been sure that the hoard would overwhelm them at the gate, it didn’t seem to matter how many he felled, there were always two more to replace them. 

Then the whole of Denerim had been illuminated by the burning column of light that shone like a beacon into the blood red sky, punching through the apocalyptic cloud layer. Even once the sky lit up, the darkspawn fought on, unheading of their wounds. It wasn’t until the blinding explosion that blasted forth from the top of the fort, that their foe finally scattered. 

It wasn’t a second too soon, for as the light burst forth toward the clouds, Alistair’s sword slipped from his grasp and he stared in horror; knowing in that moment that he would never again see one of people he cared about most in the world. In that one fateful moment he had lost either the man he considered a brother, or the woman he had loved. 

_“I love you, Alistair Theirin. No matter what happened, or what might happen... I just need you to know that I love you.”_

Alistair steadied himself, his palm grazing the rough hewn stone walls of the stairway to the top of the tower, as he gasped for breath. He couldn’t calm his thoughts or still his memories on that long long lonely journey from the city gates. 

His mind flooded with the words he had foolishly spoken when they were last in Denerim. When he had looked into her eyes and told her that he had to end their relationship, for the sake of duty, in the name of an heir. He had watched her heart shatter, as words failed her. Had seen her lip tremble and her eyes brim with tears, as all she could do was nod. In an act of cowardice that had haunted him each night since, she had reached out to touch his face and he had pushed her hand away, and he had left her, broken and alone. He knew he couldn’t have held himself together if he’d kept looking into those tear-washed eyes, and though he cursed Eamon for his damning counsel, he cursed himself more for following it. 

_She had kissed him. Chaste, like the first time that their lips had met._

When Riordan had told them of what would befall the Warden who slew the archdemon, he had seen the fear in Aedan’s eyes and how it solidified the resolve in hers, and it had terrified him. So much of the light and laughter that had once burned so brightly within her had been dowsed, now there was nothing left but cool determination and duty.

How had the duty that had once bound them together, come to separate them? How had he let her use that duty to keep him at the city gates?

_And he had known it was goodbye._

Alistair’s steps echoed around the enormous chamber as he ran on, barely taking in the forms of the two enormous ogres sprawled upon the stone floor. Ahead of him, up a short flight of steps, the huge wooden doors to the roof were flug open, but no sound made its way into the chamber. All he could hear were his footfalls and the blood hammering in his ears. 

The eerie silence drew him forward, his steps beginning to drag as he passed through the doors, feeling like he was running through deep water. Two pale and bloodied faces stared towards him, no relief showed in their features, just shock at the sound of his arrival. He only got a glimpse of Leliana’s teary eyes before she hung her head, unable to meet his eye again. Wynne moved to intercept him, softly trying to dissuade him from passing them. Pushing past her, his eyes were drawn not to the huge corrupted form of the slain dragon which occupied most of the rooftop, but to the huddled, dark-haired form who was knelt, shoulders shaking, by the edge of the parapet. 

Cradled in Aedan’s arms was a figure, pale by even her standards, a waterfall of copper hair hanging to the floor from her resting point in the crook of his arm. Her body limp.

“She won’t wake up.” 

It wasn’t the young warrior Alistair had come to know crouched in front of him, but the devastated Cousland boy who had arrived at Ostagar nearly a year before. The boy who had lost his family, the boy who was losing them all over again. His words were strangled and pleading. His eyes, red from the slow flood of tears running their way down his armour, begged for help. 

Alistair’s knees buckled. He dropped painfully to the floor ahead of Aedan, slowly raising his eyes to look at the still form in front of him. Reaching out, he took Ysabelle in his shaking arms and gently brushed the hair from her face. She looked so serene, a heartbreaking parody of sleep that mocked him with memories of when she had laid in his arms, of the mornings where he had had to coax her from the bed they shared. 

“Wake up, love… we have to get up…” His voice cracked as his burning throat released a sob. “Please...”

He held her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead with his trembling lips, as the tears he’d fought so hard to hold back began to spill down his cheeks. Her skin was already cool to the touch. There was so much he should have said to her, but he was too late.

The wind whistled across the rooftop, but his companions stood in silence, distanced from him, even Aedan was now wrapped in Leliana’s arms. He was alone with his Ysabelle. A state he had once cherished, but without her laughter and the light in her eyes, he felt nothing but a void in his chest, that threatened to consume him. The weight of the silence bent him double. He wrapped Izzy tighter into his chest as he curled in on himself, sobs wracking his body, not wanting to release her from what would be the last embrace they would share. He had one last chance to give back what he should never have taken away, to let her know, where ever she was, that he never meant his betrayal.

“I love you, Izzy. Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading it more than I enjoyed writing it, I think I just emotionally destroyed myself . IT IS NOT CANON. I couldn't do that to my babies XD I need to go read some fluff to cheer myself up!
> 
> Thank you again for reading x


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